European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 10, 1969, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Bernard says his great in american face has gotten him dozens of character parts. A by Hugh a. Mulligan a staff writer actor Herschel Bernardi faced the Dawn the noon really of a new Day inordinately concerned about How Many licks it takes to get to the Center of a Tootsie Roll. His problem was neither mathematical nor gustatory. It was a matter of accentuation. The Star of Zorba the new hit Roadway musical had weeks ago done the voiceover for a television Commer Cial but the sponsor was still undecided whether the emphasis should be place Don the second or the fourth word in the tease line How Many licks does intake to get to the Center of a Tootsie Roll by now half awake Bernardi was in toning the line Over and Over Between sips at a steaming Mug of Coffee an bleary looks out at the midday world unfolding beneath the windows of his Greenwich Village walkup in new York when the and Agency called to cancel the afternoon re cutting session for Lack of studio space. Great just great exclaimed Ber Nardi bouncing Down the phone in joyous Relief that the Day s schedule would be complicated by one less item. Since this was thursday and not matinee Day that left Only his voice lesson the appointment with the Throat specialist the screening of a new film Short a conference about a new album several phone Calls to agents account executives producers and relatives and supper somewhere to be coped wit before the regular evening performance at the Imperial theater. The Sun already had Slid behind the Row of red Brick houses that Mel Brooks Anne Bancroft Dustin Hoffman and playwright James Goldman Call Home when Bernardi eager to cop and As restful As Zorba came bound ing Down his front Steps singing lifers what you do when you wait to die. It was the first time he had seen Daylight in 30 hours. Henry Neilly his Driver and boo companion expertly gunned off in the direction of the new York University Campus where the voice coach waited Bernardi a former new York cab Dri ver watched the streets of East Village fall away with a Hackie s practice concern for making 10 blocks for every set of Green lights. You know he mused i come froma Long line of cabbies. My sister Fay just Hung up her medallion a few year Sago. 1 can remember when i pushed a cab and parked it in a Side Street Todo my one Man show at a synagogue or Lodge Call. Sometimes i d get in time to pick Upa fare from the show. They d sit there discussing the performance without noticing the picture and name on the Hack License in front of them was the Sames the actor they d just seen. The other Drivers would kid me about dressing Upin my Best suit but i d Tell them you drive your cab and i la drive  people would be surprised to learn that one of the most versatile voices in show business the singing Star of fiddler on the roof the to voice of Charlie the tuna the Jolly Green giant but no longer Ajax mrs. Grass Chicken soup jello of and so Many oth ers goes to a voice coach once a  there he was standing before a battered piano in an empty classroom rolling his head around like a punch drunk prize fighter and emitting Al sorts of gargling grunting sounds that seemed to come from deep inside him. W 1 believe in grabbing at  minute a new minute. Every second a Neil second. Never happened before ,. 99 Page 12 or an hour Bernardi garbled and growled breathed and inhaled stared at his soft palate in a Pink pocket Mirror rolled his Tongue behind his lower Teeth practice hurling his voice like a Yoyo and hummed and sort of Sang in a Low animal noise that sounded like a musical version of Bert Lahr famous Leer. When it was Over he was both exhilarated and  voice is the actor s main tool he said but Only the British wit their training and the All time beaters like Ethel Merman really know How Touse their voices. The owner of the mine Ola theater was complaining a Whaleback about having to put in microphones for stage productions. He said it was ridiculous because the House was built for Jive theater not movies but Mostof the new Breed of actors can t be heard Halfway up the orchestra. And he s right. My voice has been awfully Good to  the Bernardi limousine inched through the garment District where he had pushed pipe Racks of suits through the crowded streets past Macy a where he had worked As a Stock boy to hell Kitchen where he found himself in the darkened screening room of one of the countless film companies that Blossom f t v a Man of parts behind the West Side s facade of run Down tenements. He watched himself do the narration for Arthur Cantor s the Golden a a of second Avenue a Loving look tithe yiddish theater. There indeed a is the world from which Herschel Ber Nard had sprung the world of Hes or and Allen streets of Pushcart and bag shops and Coffee houses and Puller Inners outside the clothing stores. His parents Helen and Berl Bernard were leading character actors in tin yiddish theater. They had been married on stage and Herschel made his first appearance at the age of 3 months in his Mother s arms bawling on Cue a Jab from a safety pin. At 3 he had his first paycheck the$5 first prize for singing Sonny boy at an Amateur contest at a chinese restaurant in Philadelphia. At 4, he blew his first line. When his stage Mother sobbed of my Little boy with the Lovely Blond hair and Blueeyes he was supposed to answer mom please Don t go  Only head Brown hair and Black eyes and the leading lady of that forgotten yid dish tragedy changed the line to fit the child with the result that the child re fused to answer. Molly Picon was on the screen now a Hing sobbing cavorting chewing the scenery in the great tradition tie yiddish theater. A real belter one of the All time at beaters said Bernardi in in i shed admiration. U 9 Young Herschel was a Star. The Vish Jackie Cooper they called him. 14, when his voice changed he was shed up a has been relegated to the by Selling programs. His father Wasi Iti his Mother trying to carry on and i wanted to help out. Went Uptown one Day and to his reprise immediately landed a part in English speaking theater. He washing to be one of the Tough kids in a in play called dead  forget it said his Mother. We re ing to Detroit  10 the Bernardi family Mother Fourfis and a daughter went to Detroit id Herschel had to wait 20 years to like his Broadway debut in a bomb lied  he lights came on people came and congratulated him on the Narran the limousine rolled Uptown to theh apartments on Madison Avenue ally to the office of or. Wilbur James Gould Throat specialist to presidents Johnson and Kennedy and a Host of show business Folk who sprayed the Bernardi pipes As an aftermath of Hong Kong flu and like the voice coach warned against Strain and fatigue. The policeman on horseback outs Desardi a where he was heading in to dinner reminded Bernardi of his own Days on the Force so to speak when he played it. Jacoby in to s Long run Ning Peter Gunn series. I was the worst cop in the world always getting the gun caught in the Holster. I guess i broke half a dozen wrist watches putting the Handcuffs on fellow actors. But the series had great style. Peter Gunn owned 32 suits. Jacoby was a two suit  was still too Early for the big dinner crush at Sardis so the waiters wit nothing to do hovered about making Small talk with Bernardi who from his Days of pushing a cab has a natural Affinity for working people. Conversa Tion ranged from the Best Way to pre pare Venison with toasted Barley tothe Golden age of the Brooklyn Navy Yard when Bernardi at 17, was the youngest Carbon molybdenum welder in the Union and got to work on the gun turrets of the Carrier Benning ton and battleships Iowa and  acting was still the family profession he reminisced Over a Gin  went to California to work in the aircraft plants but took the first Job could get in a movie studio striking sets. For this i had to belong to the Hod carriers Union. It was a Little like the Guy who swept out the elephant stent because he loved show business but eventually it did Lead to a Small part As a reporter in a picture then More and  he stars and stripes it with Ono of the Mott versatile voices in show business he still takes lessons monday february 10, 1969 Hen the to studios moved West Bernardi s greatest asset was not his voice but what he Calls his great in american  it got him dozens of character parts As greeks mexicans italians jews frenchmen even Gen. Grant and a Confederate  versatile voice combined with the facile face produced the compleat Ber Nardi one night on to when he did the voice that says ebb Hope present the Chrysler theater then introduced himself As the Star of the dark Jour Ney that night s offering and in be tween was the voiceover for Plymouth and Dodge commercials. The Rush hour crowd was spilling Dow into the subways when Bernardi As faceless As the coned men digging up44th Street Cut through Shubert Alley passed the marquee of fiddler on thereof where he had played tevye the Dairyman for More than 700 perform ances and entered the Imperial Thea Ter by Way of the main  re Selling tickets into january 1970," the Man behind the window told him. Backstage understudy Jim Louis greeted him with the question that every understudy everywhere asks the Star every night How you feeling you o.k.?"Bernardi had to express his regrets that he never Felt better even though nearly one Quarter of the company had been hit by the Hong Kong flu the stars and stripes a Bernard applies makeup for the starring role of Zorba in the new Broadway hit musical. During the Day the theater manage ment finally had got around to Ber Nardi s request that his two room dress ing suite be turned around so that the sink was in the room where he dressed and not in the lounge where he relaxed and met visitors. Other actors crowded in to witness the minor Miracle of someone beating a paint Job and some renovations out of the Shubert. Framed by the 16 Light bulbs around his Mirror Bernardi began glueing on a rubber Chin and a new Bridge Fortis nose the first step in the meticulous hour Long Job of changing himself into Gray haired Zorba the greek. Expertise in the Art of makeup is one of the residuals of a background in yiddish theater. While Bernardi applied the stubble Ofa Beard and fluffed put his false Eye brows a Young musician Friend came by to Confer about the arrangements for a new album. Thirty minutes the backstage loud speaker warned. Thirty  a wardrobe Man appeared with two freshly combed hair pieces a wig and a Mustache. Carl the Dresser applied Whis Broom to the first of Zorba s , swabbing away with powder and paint chatted with the show s pres agent about his wife Cynthia a professional artist and their three children,11-year-old Adam and the girls. Beryl 7, and Robin 5. By now the unmistakable murmur of audience Conversa Tion drifted  always sounds faintly Belliger ent one of the belly dancers said other Way to the wardrobe mistress with a busted  minutes the Loudspeaker announced. Fifteen  Bernardi settled Back in a rickety wooden chair that looked us if it had once served the Booth Brothers. Ills makeup was dry and in place an snatches of the opening song were run Ning through his head. Suddenly he be Gan speaking of his family again. You know we think show businesses everything but my wife was brought up on a ranch and the Only movie she Ever saw i a kid was Snow White and the seven dwarfs one night we were watching Paul Muni and Alan  in an old Western on to. " hey my wife said he used to work for us who Ala Ladd " no or. Mcginty " or. Who " or. Mcginty that horse there wit the freckles on his forehead " Bernardi was still chuckling at the Story when the Loudspeaker Cut in. Five  too late he realized he had forgotten the warmups recommended by his voice coach. He put on his Cap and coat forthe opening number inspecting the final effect Over and Over in the Mirror. Thedin beyond the footlights had grown to a steady Roar. Traffic was heavy in the passageway outside the door with the Star on it. He Loudspeaker spoke the line that separates the worlds on each mile of the curtain. Places.  in 32 Steps Herschel Bernardi. The actor made the passage from his dress ing room to Piraeus Greece leaving behind for two hours and 17 minutes the world of second Avenue and Green wich Village of wife and kids of coping with us is and sponsors of sound studios and film run through of Candy bars with problematical middles."1 believe in grabbing at life Zorba was saying. Every minute a new min Ute. Every second a new second. Never happened before. Page 13